Motorcycle Adventures

***Worthy to note: We had a discussion with Edward from KLIM about how one time he was riding his KTM in triple digits and he swears his gas began to boil and his bike would stall. On this trip when were in triple digits Leslie’s bike began to stall. We thought maybe it was the ethanol used in Idaho gas but Cheryl’s bike only stalled once. My bike seemed to have issues in the HOT heat. My theory now is the oil. When we went cross-country in 2010 we changed our oil to 20W50 because of the heat wave that the east was experiencing. I think we should have done that for this trip. WHY?

20W50 motor oil is suitable for warmer climates, where the higher temperature causes the oil to thin. It is also useful for vehicles subject to hot temperatures and for those used for high-stress activities such as hauling or pulling trailers.

So, in the end I think for some reason my bike ran hotter than Cheryl’s causing me to stall like crazy after riding for hours. I could get the bike to restart most times and other times just pulled over and let the bike cool down. Anyway, interesting to note because we usually run 10W40 semi like most but another good lesson learned for the future.***

We woke up to a relatively sunny Sunday for departure day. Good thing as it really rained all night and with this break we were able to actually dry out our tent fly before packing up. As we slowly got our act together, one by one or two we watched other ADV riders head out on their journey’s home. Sort of sad to see this rally end, felt like it just began and it was over.

Maybe a rally like this should start on a Thursday with rides planned for Friday and Saturday and then a good-bye breakfast the last day? It’s a lot of work to put on something like this and KLIM needs to be thanked again and also ROSE, Mark Kincartt’s wife who seemed to always be doing something to assist everyone who attended. She was awesome and helpful.

We said good-bye to Jimmy and Paul as they left first for California

and then we were off heading west to the Oregon Coast.

The good news is that the temperatures never reached triple digits as we rode across Idaho to get to the west. We never felt the need to use the cooling vests we had shipped to KLIM. Bad news, as we started to make our way home, me, Leslie started to think about my work. Without boring every one with details what I can say is since I began my new job at BC Transplant I have been a fish out of water.

I am not a medical professional, I have a Masters in Social Work. My new job is very medical to the point I am expected to manage organ donor patients with the ICU’s they are in. Never mind that, the point is I need to make a decision is this the right job for me or go back to my old job in the ICU at St. Paul’s Hospital? Ruminating thoughts occupied my head for most of the trek back not allowing me to really enjoy the tail end.

Cheryl could tell as my mood was down and I was frustrated with myself for allowing work to get into my head.

The views were more of desert until we got through the center of the state. We started to see rolling hills, some mountains and things that actually caught our attention to take pictures. Don’t get me wrong, Idaho is a beautiful state but man does it have flat land like so many parts of this country. Just makes it hard on a rider to stay awake.

Interesting formations all around us as we ride through.

The terrain became colourful as we got closer to Oregon. Weather was actually good and not that hot. Well, by now we think upper 80’s low 90’s is cool. Amazing even after a week how your body acclimate to the climate.

Both Cheryl and I are partial to mountains and water. I think we will always live near water for sure. Cheryl especially LOVES the sound of ocean. So, being in the interior of a state is beautiful to ride through we could not see ourselves living here.

We pulled over for a break right near a river. There we quite a few rafts with fisherman in them and at the same time I read this river was a salmon spawning grounds and needed to be treated with respect regarding fishing. I guess these guys must have had permission to fish in this area.

Cheryl checking the map with the GPS. We had quite a few chances to head off-road to ride but because of my moodiness and lack of interest in adventuring to far off the pavement, we did not explore. Idaho has tons of back roads just like most states.

Probably a bad idea we left our Butler maps at home. In any case we did find a ranger station in Oregon that sold forestry maps with roads marked out. But to be honest the ranger was not helpful as to what roads we open or closed in Oregon and Washington States.

More mountains, must be getting closer to Oregon and our initial destination Bend.

There must have been a forest fire in this area awhile back. You can still see the charcoal residue on the trunks.

We rode Rt 26 to Rt 20 on the way back across Idaho and it was much more scenic than St 93 to Rt 26 when heading east.

Good news it seems the forest is coming back healthy as ever…

We ended up following a BMW Dakar biker and I swear he was at the KLIM rally. We tagged along for miles until he made a right turn onto what we think was a forest road through the hills. I asked Cheryl if she wanted to follow him she said no. I guess going home and getting back to the grind was on her mind too. Sucks when that happens. So, we both rode along listening to music and just enjoying the landscape views.

We entered Oregon on Rt 20 went through Bend and ended up a little outside Medford. We want to get to Northern California the next day to do the entire Oregon Coast. This was a long day about 500 miles.

One thing we LOVE about riding to places we have never been before is finding a diamond in the rough restaurant. See this next picture? WE almost did not go in because it look so dumpy on the outside. Glad we did go in for a late lunch as Wanda’s because it was one of the most cleanest restaurants we have ever eaten in. The server/cook was very pleasant and made great food!

No pictures of our meal? Hmmmmmm….this place was not far from Medford.

Even all the stainless was spotless!

We finally got to our camp ground with threatening skies above. Weather was rain for over night but it never happened. What we did notice was the fly on our tent was ripping at the seams and I emailed BA and we are going to send it in for warranty repairs.

Got a good nights sleep and were off in the morning for Northern California and the Oregon Coast!